The workshop on “Potential models of confidential mechanism of reporting corruption by entrepreneurs” took place on 26 March 2019 in Sochi. The workshop was the third in a series of activities organized by the Council of Europe within the framework of PRECOP II project which aimed at strengthening the capacities of the Regional Business Ombudspersons with regard to the institutions’ ability to effectively take forward entrepreneurs’ complaints about corruption.

The workshop brought together over 30 participants – representatives of the Federal and Regional Business Ombudspersons’ offices from 12 pilot regions of the project, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation, the regional Prosecutor’s Office and business and lawyers’ associations.

The workshop provided a platform for presenting and discussing with key stakeholders the results and main findings of the online survey with Regional Business Ombudspersons and staff of their offices, entrepreneurs and individual interviews with experts in the field regarding the possibilities for reporting of corruption. The participants exchanged opinions on the various proposed mechanisms of confidential reporting of corruption by entrepreneurs through the institution of the Business Ombudspersons, which included such forms of work with reports on corruption as legal consultations and re-directing reports to respective law enforcement agencies. All proposed models are primarily focused on measures of protection of entrepreneurs reporting on corruption (whistleblowers) against retaliation.

After the workshop the Council of Europe experts will further develop and finalize the Technical Paper on “Potential mechanisms for confidential reporting of corruption by entrepreneurs through the institute of the Federal and Regional Business Ombudspersons” based on the feedback received from the participants of the workshop by also taking into account the results of the online surveys and interviews. This final document will serve as the basis for the design of a training programme on the corresponding topic for relevant groups of professionals as well as for the development of guidelines in order to test the proposed models in at least three of the project’s pilot regions. It was agreed with the Regional Business Ombudspersons that the first training will take place in June 2019 in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia.